Master of Arts in Mass Communications

at University of Bedfordshire - Luton Campus United Kingdom

This course is designed for non-computing graduates who need to apply information technology to their current career, or want to change career direction. It covers a wide range of topics including programming, databases, security, project management and computer networking, giving you both the underpinning theory and the ability to apply it to complex real-world problems, as well as an awareness of emerging technologies and developments.

Why choose this course?

• Study key areas of information technology including applications of web technologies, information systems strategy and emerging technologies
• Explore creative and innovative applications of technology  to real-world problems
• Develop your analytical, evaluative and problem-solving skills in relation to IT-based solutions
• Gain a thorough understanding of the social and legal aspects of the Information Technology field (e.g. British Computer Society Code of Conduct and Data Protection)
• Benefit from valuable experience of working on projects for real business, opening up new career opportunities in management, supervision or as a practitioner (eg database/IT developer or system designer/analyst) in industries which make substantial use of computers and information technology.

Our interior spaces are where we spend most of our lives so their design affects us every day, whether we’re at home, at work or at play. This course gives you the skills to explore and create amazing interior designs for true ‘living’ spaces.

The course shares with Interior Architecture a fascination with how people, activities and places interrelate. It gives you many opportunities to study a range of real-life interior spaces as well as developing your own design solutions that work in creative, practical and functional ways.

You gain skills and expertise in space planning, ergonomics, design composition, colour theory, building technology, environmental control and design for sustainability. You also learn to use the latest digital design technologies such as computer-aided design; digital image creation and manipulation; and video production and editing.

Why choose this course?

• Develop a creative and critical understanding of building structure and fabric while exploring the design of interior environments in urban, suburban and rural contexts
• Study the refurbishment of existing buildings; television, film and exhibition design; and virtual environments
• Learn from an experienced academic team, applying the latest innovations to contemporary design problems
• Gain confidence through the course to work independently on a final-year project
• Work in bespoke studio spaces, surrounded by creatives, in the University’s repurposed Art & Design centre, Alexon House - formerly home to a leading fashion label
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year’s placement in industry (see below), gaining experience and making contacts for the future

Learn how the media works and shapes our understanding of the world with a degree that gives you a thorough understanding of mass media and the workings of the PR industry.

By dividing your studies between media, public relations and marketing, this course combines the expertise of two experienced academic teams and opens up a wide range of career paths from journalism and magazine publishing to digital media production and PR consultancy.

The media side of the degree gives you the practical skills you need to work confidently in a rapidly evolving field. It also provides you with an informed understanding of the social, political and historical forces that have produced our contemporary media forms and institutions.

The marketing and PR side of the degree allows you to explore a range of PR activities; develop your business skills along with your public relations counselling and planning capabilities; and build your knowledge of marketing practices particularly within the context of brand management and corporate communications.

Why choose this course?

• Develop the skills to become an effective media communicator
• Learn how marketing and public relations work, and how they shape businesses and corporate communications
• Benefit from guest lectures and media masterclasses
• Gain personal confidence as well as the ability to express yourself using appropriate media to influence and inform opinion
• Acquire valuable research and project initiation/management experience while working both independently and in teams

Combining practical design skills with creative problem-solving and reflective insight, this inspirational course offers a thorough grounding in contemporary and evolving forms of visual communication across a wide range of platforms, from digital to print, moving image to illustration.

Our degree course explores all contexts where graphic design is found such as digital content; interface design; web and social media; editorial design; print and publishing; moving image; visual identity; typography; and graphic illustration.

Working in creative teams, you learn about materials and methods in a cluster which includes Illustration, Animation, and Advertising and Branding Design. You also study studio practice; collaborative enterprise; context and meaning; and professional practice. This winning combination allows you to develop practical design skills as well as the ability to work collaboratively and show entrepreneurship.

We foster a reflective, outward-looking approach to design challenges; for example, by exploring the ways digital media has created new possibilities for producing, distributing and publishing graphic design work. We also believe a sense of responsibility is essential for a contemporary designer so ethics, sustainability and inclusion are fundamental themes running through the course’s context and debate.

Why choose this course?

• Study in small, lively and committed groups, in spacious, well-equipped studios
• Gain a solid knowledge of the cultural, critical and creative contexts of contemporary practice including how social media has transformed the role of the graphic designer
• Work on live briefs, submit for national competitions and participate in collaborative projects with leading design practitioners
• Learn the team skills required for exhibition curation and group collaborations
• Understand the standards you’ll need to reach to enter the world of professional employment
• Take the course over four years and benefit from a fee-free year in industry (see below), gaining experience and making contacts for the future
• If you need a step-up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry into the degree course on completion

In following this Master’s course, you develop the essential knowledge, attributes and professional skills you need to pursue or further your career in operational forensic casework.

The forensic industry is highly competitive, requiring skilled professionals across diverse fields including pathology, toxicology, drug analysis, fire-debris analysis, wildlife crime, microbial forensics, forensic genetics and document analysis. This course prepares you to meet the needs of the industry and enter a career in areas related to civil and criminal investigation as well as wider science- or research-based positions.

On the course, you develop your theoretical understanding and practical experience alongside your skills in analysing and evaluating your findings. You also learn how to communicate these findings to a variety of audiences, including other scientists, the court and the media. Units may include forensic chromatography; evaluation and presentation of evidence; forensic spectroscopy; and biological advances.

Why choose this course?

•  Learn from staff with experience in operational forensic casework. Develop your practical skills through hands-on experience in our exceptional laboratory facilities, including a Scenes of Crime Laboratory.
• Study a course informed by the latest research, ensuring you are aware of current and emerging developments in this specialist field.
• Gain a qualification, the skills and the knowledge to meet the wide-ranging needs of the forensic and other science-based industries, making you well-placed to enter a career in a number of specialised fields.
• Develop strong research skills for form the basis of those required for study at PhD level. Benefit from the University’s strong links to external stakeholders in the forensic industry and related organisations and practice sectors.
• Take up career opportunities that could include forensic consultancies; government agencies; related industries; and research and development

This course responds to the growing market demand for graduates who aim to deal with the information and organisation needs of businesses.

As a student, you will gain understanding of information and organisation structures in a business, as well as skills of exploiting existing software that is required for designing and developing information systems.

You will also obtain skills and ability to interact with business analysts, computer programmers, software engineers and computer scientists.

Why choose this course?
The course will provide you with academic and technical skills to analyse, interpret and make sense of how to handle the huge amount of ubiquitous data created daily. It will enable you to meet the demands of tomorrows information society and draws from our expert staff in Information Systems, Data Science and Computing.

• Learn to exploit and integrate existing software, and design information systems
• Study web database management systems, decision support systems and data mining
• Develop the technical ability to interact with business analysts, computer programmers, software engineers and computer scientists
• Gain an understanding of the integration of industrial standard technologies and advanced information technology strategies, including grid and cloud computing
• Explore your career opportunities with our industry contacts
• Challenge your intellectual abilities as you focus on the skills needed to conceptualise, develop and manage information systems
• Benefit from the opportunity to study in a dedicated environment using the latest hi-tech industry standard equipment

Sustainability management is fast becoming a key driving force in shaping organisational strategy as companies are under pressure to compete in the Green Economy.

This course focuses on the relationship between the economic ambitions of businesses and the necessity to meet the growing global concern to meet sustainability agendas.

Through a combination of academic study and working with industry on real sustainability-related problems, you will develop the personal and professional skills you need to be a key player in this global, knowledge-based economy.

There are six entry points through the year. This allows you to start when it is most suitable.

• Study the core areas of sustainability within the corporate sector, and logistics management and its relationship with sustainability
• Gain intimate knowledge of the structural issues companies and counties face when implementing a sustainability agenda.
• Develop advanced knowledge of organisational approaches to sustainability as well as of government policies and the critical capabilities to apply theory to complex issues
• Explore your enterprise, creativity and independence – the skills required by employers - through your dissertation unit
• Develop your employability by undertaking a work placement with the opportunity to work on a live project
• Benefit from studying with a Business School that has partners across the world enabling you to examine the cross-culture perspectives essential to organisations in the global markets

Purchasing, logistics and supply chain management are critical to the success of both manufacturing and service industries, be it global or domestic in scale. It encompasses the functions of procurement, production, distribution, transport, and customer services, with a diverse range of management styles and structures.

You will develop the attributes and skills expected of post-graduates, as recognised by professional and industry bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT).

You will start with a week-long welcome induction where, apart from being introduced to the University and your Faculty, the first interaction with the area of purchasing, logistics, supply chain management will prepare you for the rest of your studies.

The course is delivered in a blocks format; this means you will undertake one course unit at a time for 6 weeks. This constitutes one block of delivery.

When you progress to the Master’s capstone stage you can choose one of three options - Business Dissertation, Business Live Project, and Professional Practice.

The course is designed to provide you with a unique learning experience. It is intense but also very rewarding.

Why choose this course?

• You will develop a sound understanding of theories, methodologies and techniques of global logistics and supply chain management applicable to diverse organisations.
• You will learn to make feasible plans for procurement, logistics/supply chain operations, and projects management, apply suitable methods, tools or techniques for process and quality management, and critically evaluate their results and effectiveness.
• You will become familiar with the relevant professional codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility issues, demonstrate professional communication skills appropriate to working with both internal and external personnel and stakeholders, and be able to justify, respond and present the outcomes in a manner appropriate to the audience.
• You will acquire strong technical expertise and critical awareness of the security implications , methodologies and frameworks applied to modern information security management systems to safeguard organisations and their assets.

This course will further develop the knowledge and skills acquired during your undergraduate studies by enhancing your ability to understand the financial risk frameworks within a business and management context.

Along with the knowledge of financial markets, financial regulation and risk management required comprehending the operations and assessing the risks facing businesses, you will also further develop the necessary quantitative, research, and presentation skills required for a successful career.

Besides focusing on specific areas of financial markets, financial regulation and risk management, this course offers you a contextual understanding of the environment in which businesses operate and the place of financial risk management within a business.

There are six entry points through the year. This allows you to start at a time when it is most suitable for you.

In its structure this course recognises the importance of regulation in underpinning the world of financial reporting and its varied impact on published results and capital markets.

At the same time we realise that although knowledge of economic and finance is a necessary condition when trying to understand the world we live in, it needs to be applied in a concrete way in order to avoid consuming itself in analysing theoretical models.

Therefore, this course is structured in a way that uses risk management and financial theory as the driving force and at the same time it links its concepts with other pillars of knowledge through the holistic approach the global economic and financial environment require.

This BPS-accredited conversion course is open to anyone with a recognised undergraduate degree in any subject who now wants to take the first step towards becoming a chartered psychologist.

This unique course – accredited to the British Psychological Society (BPS) - provides you with the knowledge and skills you need to go on to develop a successful career in the field of psychology.

You study the essential core topics of individual difference, developmental, social, cognitive and biological psychology. You need to have studied these areas to gain BPS Graduate Membership, the first step towards becoming a chartered psychologist specialising in a chosen area such as health, forensic, counselling, education or clinical.

Why choose this course?

• Study how psychology can be applied in daily life, in the specific areas of health, wellbeing and criminal behaviour
• Explore intellectual functions, the biological basis of behaviour and the effects of impairments on the mind
• Develop a deep understanding of the role learning and memory play in our everyday lives
• Focus in more detail on the specialist areas of health and forensic psychology
• Gain the skills and expertise necessary to use the qualitative and quantitative methodologies commonly used by professional psychologists
• Benefit from access to a wide range of departmental facilities, including expert advice and specialist software such as SPSS, ATLAS, EEG and driver simulators